Updates

Looks like an optional morning skate. Nielsen (lower body) is skating. pic.twitter.com/zYlYYZCfTy

— Ted Kulfan (@tkulfan) November 6, 2019

I know “optional skate” isn’t what a lot of folks want to hear right now considering how the team has been playing - I think the Red Wings know that too because they made sure to go out of their way to point out that yesterday’s practice was “high intensity” and featured battle drills.  We’ll see how that plays out (J.J.)

Based on Red Wings morning skate at Madison Square Garden, Dylan McIlrath subs in for Alex Biega tonight.

— Helene St. James (@HeleneStJames) November 6, 2019

Mika Zibanejad on the ice at #NYR morning skate in a non-contact jersey. Guessing that means he won’t play tonight.

— Brett Cyrgalis (@BrettCyrgalis) November 6, 2019

Lineups

Detroit Red Wings

Tyler Bertuzzi - Dylan Larkin - Anthony Mantha
Adam Erne - Valtteri Filppula - Andreas Athanasiou
Taro Hirose - Frans Nielsen - Brandon Perlini
Justin Abdelkader - Jacob de la Rose - Darren Helm

Patrik Nemeth - Filip Hronek
Dennis Cholowski - Madison Bowey
Joe Hicketts - Dylan McIlrath

Jimmy Howard
Jonathan Bernier

New York

Artemi Panarin - Ryan Strome - Jesper Fast
Chris Kreider - Filip Chytil - Pavel Buchnevich
Brendan Lemieux - Brett Howden - Kaapo Kakko
Micheal Haley - Lias Andersson - Brendan Smith

Libor Hajek - Jacob Trouba
Brady Skjei - Anthony DeAngelo
Ryan Lindgren - Adam Fox

Henrik Lundqvist
Alexandar Georgiev

Keys to the Game

Find an Identity

Is this a fast team that uses their speed to push the pace and transitions the puck lightning fast from defense to offense? Or is this a low event, grind it out team that likes to work the cycle game and slowly wear teams down while driving the net looking for greasy goals? Or is this a team that favors possession, taking their time with getting the puck and making the smart passes to gain the zone then use movement and patience to find the right opening for a dangerous shot on goal? Right now they seem like they are trying to be all of these at times instead of finding what identity fits them best and work on finding ways to win hockey games that way.

Special Teams

Yes, I know I said this the last game and it seems like a bit of a copout.  But when your opponent goes 2 for 4 on the power play while you go 0 for 3 it is going to be a key again. The Red Wings are not a good 5 on 5 hockey team right now so they absolutely need to find away to get their special teams to be a lot more special if they are going to win games.

Patience

This goes for every player and coach. Injuries, losses and call ups have thrown the team into a spin and it could be very easy to get frustrated, angered or even down about it. But that is not the best way to get out of a slump. They have got to stay calm, stay patient and focus on the things that they know they can do. Pressing and gripping the stick harder rarely results in busting out of a slump.